Another catch-up

I have a blog? What? Oh, yeah! Life is so hectic these days, it's hard to keep up!

Charlie is so funny and cute these days. He loves the song, "If You're Happy and You Know It," and does the motions. His favorite is putting his fingers on his cheeks when you get to the, "your face will surely show it," part. In fact, he does that motion as soon as you start singing the song, and then every time when you get to that line (before you even say that part, he just knows). He is also very much into climbing lately, and climbs on all the furniture. He loves to walk across the couches, climb up and stand in kitchen chairs (and sometimes get on the table), etc. It's making me a nervous wreck!

A couple of days ago, I was putting on my boots (which sometimes takes a bit of effort). Charlie was standing on the ground next to me, watching every move very intently, bending down when needed. When I finished the second boot, he stood up and started clapping. Ha! Oh, and he also wants me to hold him all the time. If I'm doing something, he grabs my leg to turn me around and then holds his hands up in the air. He is content as long as I'm holding him, but I just can't seem to get anything done!

Another development is that he has stopped crying very much, which was previously his only mode of communication, since he's not really talking yet (still). Now, he babbles in a whiny but cute kind of voice, like he's telling us all about what he wants. MUCH, MUCH better than crying! And wow, look at how BIG he's getting!

Carter is growing before our very eyes, and says so many things that surprise me, constantly. It's hard to remember any specific things, because he says so much. His teacher tells me every time I see her just how smart and imaginative he is. She said she wished she could write a book with all the things he says. Me, too, Ms. Coline, me, too.

We went to Parker's birthday party a couple of weeks ago at the park. Charlie just does not like to swing - this is the complete opposite of his brother, who has always loved to swing as high as he could go! Charlie is very cautious, and I think it makes him nervous. However, he did learn to climb all over the small slide set and slide down all by himself! (P.S. The kids were not dressed in nice, birthday party outfits because a) it was muddy and b) Alan got something in his eye while cutting grass and we ended up being 30 minutes late to the party, with no time to change their clothes).

Did I mention that Alan and I went on another vacation last month without children? We actually planned this one a long time ago - it was going to be our first time away from the children (before the sort-of last minute business trip came up). We decided to go see Jay Leno when he came to Biloxi (I know - we are not gamblers, drinkers, etc, but went to Las Vegas and Biloxi in the same month). We decided to cancel the spa treatments we had scheduled, since we had just spent a lot of moola in Las Vegas. However, we did have a very relaxing trip, and ate some really good meals. Jay Leno was very funny - I would recommend seeing him if you ever have the chance.